A large-scale clinical trial to investigate whether supplementation with the antioxidants vitamin E and selenium can prevent prostate cancer has just about completed enrollment of 32,400 participants, more than two years ahead of schedule. The NCI-sponsored trial - dubbed SELECT, for Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial - began enrolling patients in August 2001. Achieving the randomization goal was expected to take approximately five years. Instead, it will take approximately 34 months, with randomization set to cease on June 24.

To complete randomization of this many participants in such a short period is rarely seen, said Dr. Charles A. Coltman, Jr., chair of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), which is coordinating the trial. "This accomplishment is a tribute to the men who have volunteered to participate in SELECT at a rate of 1,000 a month and to the researchers and clinical research associates who did a masterful job of recruitment."

One of the most rewarding aspects of my position as director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has been the opportunity to witness the emergence of vital new initiatives and areas of research. In particular, it's been gratifying to see the rapid evolution of research into the needs, problems, and realities of cancer survivors. At NCI, we've made survivorship research a top priority. We are directing and conducting research on an abundance of important topics, including long-term follow-up of childhood cancer survivors, healthy behaviors for all survivors, and unique issues faced by cancer survivors from underserved populations.

The fact that survivorship is such a burgeoning area of research is evidence of the tremendous progress we have made - progress that clearly portends a future in which we can achieve the goal of eliminating the suffering and death due to cancer by 2015. My optimism is well-founded: the number of people who have survived more than five years after being diagnosed with cancer has more than tripled, from 3 million in 1971 to nearly 10 million cancer survivors alive today.

This NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads a national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic and clinical biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.